I Go Where The Drains Are

I was unemployed for about 5 months in 2009. With no money and too much time, i decided, inspired by the efforts of Parisian, New Yorker and Australian subway/metro explorers, to give exploring the abandoned sections of the London Underground a crack.

I got researching and over the months, managed to gain access to eight of the seventeen abandoned stations and two sections of abandoned tunnel.

I admit it was one of the most stressful, (exploration wise) periods of my life. I lived in perpetual fear of what MIGHT happen if i got caught, and while learning as much as i could about the comings and goings of late night trains and workers, not to mention the where's and how's of the traction power, i nevertheless explored every site on nervous tenterhooks.

Each site took about two weeks of reccie and attempts to crack. Of the more famous abandoned tube stations such as Down Street or Aldwych... well, they just werent feasible without permission. I got into as many as i could without actually breaking into anything... to have gone further, especially with all the cameras and alarms, just wouldnt have been worth it.

So yeah, heres the first bunch, bunched together as they are all cut and cover stations. None of the pics are amazing as i wasnt really considering the art of composition while dodging trains and track workers.

OLD KINGS CROSS

Built in 1863 as the station on the Metropolitan Line (which later became shared by it and the Hammersmith & City along with the Circle), it was located across the road from Kings Cross Main Line Station. The deep level stations for the Northern, Piccadilly were however, built under the main line station and in 1941 the Met platforms were relocated to their current location, corresponding with Kings Cross Tube being renamed Kings Cross-St Pancras. This left the original station abandoned.

Access was novel to say the least and a few attempts were thwarted by workers being present, but at 3am one morning my higglety pigglety access paid off and Zero and myself found ourselves standing in our first abandoned underground station.

Westbound Platform:

Westbound Platform stairs:

Eastbound Platform:

Looking down the Eastbound Platform stairs:

Tunnel carrying on towards Kings Cross - St Pancras:

The old pedestrian tunnel that used to to connect to the deep level sections:

Chillin under the Cross

MARK LANE

Mark Lane replaced the original District Line Tower of London Station in 1884... Then, in 1946 it was renamed Tower Hill Station... Then, in 1967, being far too small, it was disused and the current Tower Hill station was built to serve the Circle and District Lines.

Mark Lane's westbound platforms were obliterated later on to provide siding space and its upper levels converted into a public house and roadway underpass, leaving only the eastbound sections, a platform, some steps, a hallway and a toilet.

I was struggling to find my way in and it wasnt until i enlisted the Metro pwning skills of Dsankt and Snappel that lol, they found the way in. We had to dodge trains that ran every 2 minutes, then workers appeared, so as such, theres only three photos.

DUCK! Eastbound for Upminster at 5 o clock!:

The Luck of the Irish (cept im Scottish):

The Remaining Platform:

ST MARYS

One of the least known abandoned stations, this little gem sits literally 200m west of Whitechapel. In 1938 Algate East station was moved further east, meaning there was literally three stations within a 400m stretch. St Marys was disused, but it remained a busy area, as just east of its platforms the St Marys Curve took trains via an exceptionally tight bend of a tunnel, over to the East London Line, allowing EL line trains to access the District and H & C lines and vise-versa. Upon its disuse as an active station, St Marys was opened as a civilian air raid shelter and concrete huts were built on its platforms.

In 1940, the stations topside building was levelled by a bomb...

St Marys proved a hassle and a treat all at once. After three reccies it took me eight attempts to get into it. In the end Zero and I got in on a public holiday... lol, the one time there were no track workers about.

Sadly, the St Marys Curve Tunnel had been sealed, but the station itself, while not very station like, still had its bomb sheltered platforms and a selection of odd cavities and areas, a lot of them likely created by a bomb crater.

Looking west from the station, the sealed Curve tunnel can be seen in the background to the right: